Former Taiwan head coach Gary White yesterday was victorious on his return to the Taipei Municipal Stadium with Hong Kong, as James McKee and substitute Chung Wai-keung scored the goals in a 2-1 victory for the visitors in front of 1,193 supporters in their EAFF Championship second-round qualifying match.
In a tight first half, the visitors created the first opportunity in the 11th minute, when McKee missed a chance from an Alessandro Ferreira cross.
Taiwan came close four minutes later when goalkeeper Yapp Hung-fai saved a Wu Chun-ching header.
Hong Kong almost opened the scoring when a Festus Baise header was cleared off the line and then five minutes later when Paul Ngue got free inside the penalty area, but lifted his effort over the bar.
Hong Kong finally found the back of the net in the 65th minute when McKee converted a header at the back post.
The visitors should have been further ahead four minutes later when Baise somehow managed to lift the ball over the bar from point-blank range.
Taiwan equalized in the 81st minute when the ball fell to Chen Ting-yang during a scramble in the Kong Kong penalty area and the Taiwanese player kept his cool to slot the ball home.
However, the home supporters’ joy was short-lived when Chung fired home from the right side of the penalty area three minutes later.
Taiwan had an opportunity to grab a point with the last kick of the match, but substitute Will Donkin failed to trouble the goalkeeper when his shot flew wide.
“We had many chances in the first half, but our players did not put the game away. Then in the second half, we seized the opportunity and battled back for the winning goal, so I am just happy to get the win,” White said in the post-game interview.
“We knew it would be a difficult game, because Taiwan has fantastic players and they are fighters,” he added.
“We came here to get our job done and it’s good to get this first win against Taiwan, because North Korea and Hong Kong are the favorites to advance, and we have to do better in our next two games,” White said.
“We only had five days of getting the players together for training,” Taiwan head coach Wang Chia-chung said. “It showed in this game, and our players lacked the experience, where they lost possession and made errors in marking the opposition, resulting in giving up the second goal.”
In the earlier match, favorites North Korea ran out 4-1 winners over Mongolia.
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